Admission Essay

Besides being one of Liberty University’s requirements for admission, your admission essay is your way of adding your personality to the list of statistics that make up your admission paperwork.

Here are some tips that you can use to help you write a better essay:

1. Be true to yourself. Don’t look online for a list of top attention-getting essays or ask your friends what they are writing for their essays. Write from the heart, and your passion will show. Your personal statement for university admission is a chance for you to write about how your faith is integrated into your life, so pray on it before you put pen to paper. In addition, write how you speak. Don’t break out a thesaurus and try to use lots of fancy words you would never use in real life. If it’s not your natural language, it will come across as awkward and possibly be incorrect.
2. Start early. Writing your essay a few minutes before you submit it is probably not the best choice. Give yourself time to answer the essay prompts, then take a break and reread what you wrote. This is a great way to catch mistakes that you may not have noticed while you were writing the first draft.
3. Imagine this as your elevator pitch. You might have heard of an elevator pitch before: you have to tell an investor or your boss your idea in the time it takes to ride an elevator to the top floor. Your admission essay is your chance to tell someone you’ve never met about you, your faith, and your plans as a Liberty student.
4. Stick to the suggested length. Writing a 5-page paper when the requested word count is a few hundred words will probably get you noticed, but not in a good way. Part of the reason for the admission essay format goes back to the elevator pitch idea. Can you convey the requested information in a clear and concise manner?
5. Proofread and then proofread again. One of the reasons you want to start early is so that you have time to run your essay through spellcheck, then take a break for a few days before rereading it. Reading it out loud can help you catch awkward wording or mistakes that you miss when just reading it in your head. Ask a teacher, parent, or friend who is in college to read it after you’ve polished it to the best of your ability.

Your personal essay for university admission is one of the most important steps in the admission process. Take your time, give it some thought, and follow the tips we have provided to let the true you shine through.